Tuesday, December 5, 2023
- Reflection by Bishop Erik K.J. Gronberg, PhD
Psalm 79:8-10
Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.
Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins,
for your name’s sake.
Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.
As a young pastor I had the brilliant idea of having our youth decide the Advent message for the church sign. They came back with “Jesus is Coming…OMG!”. OMG being short for “Oh My God” in phone text language.
Many found this a wonderful and creative message. As expected, others weren’t so sure. Finding it flippant or even disrespectful. But there it stayed for the season. A reminder that Advent, today often characterized as a season of hopeful anticipation, also has history as a time of penitence, self-examination, and confession. Jesus is coming…God is coming. And if God is coming, accountability is coming. Who we are, what have been, all will be exposed.
In our current world there is all to much evidence of the collective sin of our past, present, and even sin we are committing against future generations. War and violence, much of it based in religious extremism, persist. The sins of racism and sexism infect our communal life. Economic injustice results in an ever-widening gap between the extreme rich and everyone else. Our climate is in crisis. Migrants, like Mary and Joseph, are turned away and subjected to demeaning and unjust practices. The list is, quite honestly, endless and we are all complicit. Jesus is coming…God is coming.
The theme for this week is Listen. And in Psalm 79 (assigned in the daily lectionary for today) the Psalmist is imploring, expecting, even demanding, listening. But this is not listening so much for us but for God. The Psalmist is begging God to listen, to be merciful and compassionate, and to deliver. To help God’s broken people. To forgive sin as a witness to the nations so they also can know the power of God.
In Advent we hopefully expect God to come again into our sinful world. With the Psalmist we ask God to listen and forgive. In so doing an expectation is placed on us as well. Will we then listen? To hear the cries of those who our sin has marginalized and forgotten. To make right unjust systems and be people of peace and reconciliation.
If we truly listen, we can at least make a start. Recognizing of course in the end God’s kingdom will come without our prayer, but we pray it may also come about in and among us this Advent because…
Jesus is Coming…OMG!!!
